Making A Deal With The Devil
by riverknowshisname
Summary: "You see," says Snow. "We take your memories of her, we take you from her. The Peeta she loves will never be seen again. He will never have existed in his own mind. From now on you will be a prisoner of your every thought. Every waking and sleeping moment will be filled with doubt."


_**This is completely unrelated to my longer fic. This is Peeta's point of view as the story in the book goes, but it takes it one step further. I guess you'll have to read it to find out.**_

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"Peeta, Peeta, Peeta."

I hear my voice and I know exactly who it is. President Snow. His voice is unmistakable despite where it's coming from. "What do you want?" I ask the area around me. "Something I can help you with?"

"Yes," he says, "as a matter of fact. I do have something I would like you to do for me."

"What is it?" I ask him.

"I want you to put forth the idea of a cease-fire," he says. "Tell the districts to stop fighting the Capitol, and you're so good with the people Peeta, they just might listen to you."

"What makes you think that?" I ask curtly.

"Because of Katniss."

"What does Katniss have to do with this?" I don't like where this conversation is going and it hasn't even gone very far. If he's going to make the personal effort to come talk to me about Katniss and a cease-fire, that means the rebels are winning, and that's exactly what I want them to do. I want them to beat the Capitol.

However, him saying her name is like sticking a dagger in my back. Whatever the big mysterious plan was, the rebels had rescued Katniss and not me. I suppose that shouldn't surprise me, but it does. I love Katniss, and I'm glad she's safe, and out of Snow's reach, but I miss her so much my chest contricts at the mention of her, my heart skips a beat and for the first time since they brought me here, I am very concerned for her wellbeing.

"Katniss," says Snow pulling me from my thoughts. "Has everything to do with it Peeta. She started this whole thing in motion, when she offered you those berries."

"So?"

"So, we have to do something about that Peeta," his eyes narrow at me, at the mere attitude to which I replied. Snow hates us. The rebels, me…but especially Katniss, I have no doubt they'll try to use me against Katniss, but she won't do anything, she doesn't care about me the way I do her…but that kiss on the beach. She's _never_ kissed me like that before. She said she needed me. Katniss said she needed me. "We—and by "we" I mean you—need to get out there and convince them to stop fighting. Katniss Everdeen needs to step down, and the rest of the rebels with her."

"Why would she do that?" I ask.

"Because she cares about you, Peeta," he smiles. "She cares about what would happen to you." He stops talking until he has walked so far forward and lowered his head so much that we are mere inches apart and he holds my glare. Both glaring at each other. "She loves you, Peeta."

"No, she doesn't," I say, but even that comes out as more of a croak.

"I'm assuming she told you about my meeting with her, before the tour?"

I nod. "Yeah, of course she told me."

"And she told you, that she needed to _convince_ me she loves you, am I right?"

"Yes, that's what she said." I say flatly.

"And do you know what she did?" he asks, his gaze intencifies as he narrows his eyes even more.

"Failed."

"Oh, Peeta," he stands up. "Don't do this to yourself. You have to admit there was something different about the Quell, she treated you different. She sobbed—I've seen crying over the years, Peeta. But you hit that force field and I've never seen tears like that—she sobbed Peeta. I suspected she cared about you, but I didn't think there was any kind of love there. She cared if you lived or died, that's obvious since the first arena. But when you were alive—when Finnick saved your life—she clung to you. She refused to let you move. She cares Peeta." He walks over to the window.

I always knew she cared, that was never a surprise. She'd never have risked her life in the first arena for someone she didn't at least care something about. And even now when I know she faked her feelings…there are still moments in that cave, when I almost ate the nightlock, when Cato had my neck pinned…where I think that maybe she did care something genuine. But that's the thing with Katniss, the only person in the world anyone is certain she loves is Prim. She'd never have volunteered for her I the reaping if she didn't care. But she did, and I suppose that's why people are looking to her. Why people are looking to Katniss.

"It's funny," says Snow. "I thought at that point that maybe she did love you, maybe I had been wrong about her. Maybe I misjudged her, but on that beach. I'm sure you play the moment over and over again in your mind. She said _she_ needed you. You tried to use her family to bribe her, to convince her that she needed to go back. You poured your heart out, said you'd never be happy again. But when you said no one needed you, and you meant it. That's what made her need so credible. That's when I knew that she loved you. And that's why you're here now, Peeta. You're here because Katniss Everdeen loves you, and because she loves you, I'm going to try my hardest to break her. And you're going to help."

"Why should I trust a word you say?" I glare at him. "You know Katniss, no one can make her do anything she doesn't want to do."

"You're right. And that, Peeta, is why you are going to call for a cease-fire. You are going to convince the districts that they're wrong, that they don't need to fight us. That things can go back to the way they were, and the Hunger Games can resume."

"What makes you think I would even help you?" I don't hide the disgust in my voice.

"Because you are about _her_. You've said as much, many times in front of the Capitol. No one in their right mind, not even those in the districts could argue that you don't love Katniss Everdeen. And if you want her to say alive," he turns to face me. "And stay safe. Then you're going to have to do this one little thing for me."

"I can say whatever I want," I say telling, not negotiating. "As long as I urge them for a cease-fire."

"Sure, Peeta. Whatever you want. Whatever will get the job done."

"Then I will do it," I say.

"Oh, I know you will." He smiles at me and leaves the room.

I'm back in the training center, back to where Katniss and I stayed before the Games. How empty it feels without her here. How horribly, horribly lonely. I can't sleep at night. Katniss is no longer here to drive the bad dreams away. I don't know how she is, and this is a feeling I cannot bear. There is one person in the world, that I would willingly lay my life down for, ten fold. And that person is Katniss. I tried to keep her alive in the arena, and I suppose I must have…but the Games are not over, and I will not stop trying my hardest to keep Katniss alive, even if it means going against what I believe, and the things that I stand for. Because there is one person, that no one else can lose, and that's Katniss. To many people care about her. If I can do, even the slightest thing to keep her alive, then I'll be damned if I don't try to do it.

I find out the next morning that I will be on the television with Caesar Flickerman. Portia and the rest of my team prepare me, and before I know it I'm sitting in a chair across from Caesar defending Katniss with ever breath that I have. Even Caesar doubts her now. She was his favorite victor. _The girl on fire_, no longer burns in the Capitol. Eventually—thankfully—the interview is over. I know that the rebels won't stop. I know that won't. They can't. And regardless of what happens to me, Katniss must keep fighting. If she gives up, the rebellion will crumble at her feet. – I'm hardly two feet off the stage when two men rush me and I'm knocked unconscious. I'd have known that Snow would do something. I defended Katniss, I made her out to be everything that every person already believes she is. I knew it would cost something, and I'm ready for it. Whatever it is.

I awaken on a table, arms and legs and chest strapped down. I cannot move, and my own strength could not sever these bindings. Then I see Snow at the foot of the table. "I might've known it was you." I tell him.

"Of course, it's me." He smile is eerily hollow. "You know what that little stunt of yours cost Peeta?"

"A few moments of screen time," I retort.

"Oh no, Peeta. You gave Katniss power, power she should not have. And you are going to pay for that dearly."

"If you're going to kill me, just do it." I look at the wall to my left. I only just now notice that there are several syringes. All with a green colored liquid. The smell is repugnant, but familiar, though I cannot place it.

"Do you recognize that smell, Peeta?" he says. "That's because you should know it well. Tracker jacker venom is in those viles, every single one. And Peeta, they're all going to be used up on you."

"What are you going to do?" Even I cannot place my tone.

"Make you pay."

"How?" I ask.

"By taking your memories." This hits me like a locomotive. Can they do that? "Little by little we will take things away. We will change them. When we're done, instead of loving her as passionately as you do, you will hate her just as passionately. You will want to kill her. And if we're very lucky you will kill her."

"You can't make me do that!" I scream. "You can't make me forget Katniss!"

"Ah," he places a finger to his lips. "But that's the thing Peeta. We've done it before. We've succeeded doing this before. Many people have died as a result of this. And many people have lost there minds, and you will be no different. But because you love Katniss, that is what we're taking from you. Because if we take your memories of her, and because she needs you, for the first time in your life, you aren't going to need her. You're not even going to want her. You are going to kill her Peeta. And I can guarantee that."

"What is wrong with you?" I scream at him trying to rip myself free. Nothing.

"Just think, it all started with a few little berries."

A syringe is in my arm and my head is blazing. Burning. Katniss handing me the berries, splitting them—she's giving me all of them. Katniss Everdeen is trying to kill me. "What are you doing?" I scream.

"I told you Peeta," says President Snow. "I'm taking your memories."

Violent sobs wrack through my body as I full grasp what is happening to me. When he says I'm going to forget Katniss…what he really means is, the person I think she is, the woman that I love, will suddenly become my greatest enemy. The nightmares will no longer be nightmares, they'll be reality, and reality will be my nightmares.

And one last thought hits me.

_I'm going to kill Katniss Everdeen._

"You see," says Snow. "We take your memories of her, we take you from her. The Peeta she loves will never be seen again. He will never have existed in his own mind. From now on you will be a prisoner of your every thought. Every waking and sleeping moment will be filled with doubt."

He walks to the door.

"And Katniss will not be here to save you."


End file.
